Review of OkCupid

Guest Author - Danielle Deovlet

It is the age of technology and dating has new twists and turns. Online dating has been put down and raised up. For the women out there that are navigating the murky waters of online dating, I’m here to help. I will be reviewing one of the many dating websites out there, OkCupid.
Pros:
100% Free – Okcupid is one off the most comprehensive dating sites out there that is actually free. If there is a limit on the number of messages that you are able to send, I haven’t found it. You don’t have to pay to talk to someone and you can easily meet up on your own terms via exchanging numbers or some other form of contact.
Convenient – Okcupid has a website that is browser and mobile friendly. They also have an app. All of the methods of accessing the website are easily accessible and user friendly.
Quiver – Okcupid has something that they call your quiver. The quiver holds three people that meet your criteria for “what you are looking for”. This criteria includes location, age, gender, etc. This means that if you don’t want to spend too much time on Okcupid, they will hand deliver three people to you. As soon as you have removed the three people, three more are sent over. You don’t have to go searching and you can set it up to email to you…or not.
Locals – There is a feature available on the phone app and website when accessed via mobile phone called locals. This feature allows you to see people who are online and close to your current location. From there you can message them and, if you enjoy talking, meet up without too much muss or fuss.
Match % - The match percentage system works through a series of questions that are available to users to answer. These questions are both staff and user created (so you can create your own if there is something important to you). Each question comes with a couple of sections. In the first section, you answer the question for yourself. The second section is something a bit more unique. You select which answers you want your potential partner to choose. Sometimes this can be the same answer, but sometimes it can be more complex. For example: when asked if passion or dedication is more important, my answer is passion. I would, however, prefer my potential partner to answer dedication. From there you are able to select how important this question and your potential partner’s answer is to you.
I have found that if the potential dater has answered a number of questions, the match percentage is generally accurate. If they haven’t, you can go in and look at the individual questions they HAVE answered and see how you compare.
Paid upgrade option – There are always options to upgrade and Okcupid is no different. They allow you to pay to hide your views of other profiles or sort by features such as attractiveness.
**Bonus – for the LGBT daters out there, Okcupid gives the option to hide your profile from straight users, giving you a ready-made LGBT dating site.

Cons:
Unwanted messages – Since Okcupid is entirely free, there is no filter for messages. Your inbox can be flooded with unwanted messages that only say, “Hi”. Be diligent in deleting your messages and send some of your own to find someone you really are interested in.
Selectivity rating on profile – Okcupid includes a feature that states how selective people are in replying to messages. Due to the unwanted messages that can flood inboxes, this feature isn’t accurate and can scare some nice people off when they see someone “replies selectively” to messages.

If you wade through the cons above, then you can find some success on Okcupid. I don’t find it to have many cons and is a shining example of what a free dating website can be.
I did review this website based on my own experience maintaining an active profile on OkCupid.